


Love is watching someone die

by SunflowerAndTheSea



Series: In another universe [5]
Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Batfamily Feels, Death, Grief/Mourning, I'm Sorry, M/M, Sad, Sad Ending, a bit too late, batman does care, he just shows it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-05
Updated: 2019-04-05
Packaged: 2020-01-05 05:30:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18359582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SunflowerAndTheSea/pseuds/SunflowerAndTheSea
Summary: Gotham has always been a merciless lady - it was something Bruce had learned very early in his life.





	Love is watching someone die

Gotham has always been a merciless lady - it was something Bruce had learned very early in his life.

There was no love in her for her children, the souls born and raised in her streets, for the new lives and old lives that bloomed in her every corner.

_(she doesn't even wince at the blood soaking her, the scent of death that never leaves her side, or the pain and agony that burn deep within her walls; she's grown numb to them with time)._

So, in all honesty, Bruce knew all this.

He's not sure why he expected something different to happen after Tim. Left.

_(maybe it was because his own world had come to a stop; maybe that's the reason)_

Everything was the same as before, but then again, it wasn't; the city still worked the same, there was still crime and justice-

_(and pain, and sadness, and death)_

\- but it was the small things that pushed the knife in his heart deeper into the damaged organ.

The first time it happened was after.

After.

Walking through the manor had never felt harder, not even after his parents' death, or Dick leaving, or Jason storming out without looking back; sorrow clung to its walls, now permanently engraved into its very core.

There was nothing more he wished than to go to his room and never get out again, because in that room he can still pretend that nothing happened -

_(and that every moment now Dick would run in with some illogical idea, and Tim would follow behind with tons of arguments why that wouldn't work while Jason laughs harder at every new one)_

But the city waits. Gotham waits, and Batman is beyond pain and grief.

_(but Bruce isn't, he isn't.)_

So he puts on his mask, and the cape and the utility belt, and then turns and says,

"Ready Robin?"

But no one responded.

_(the silence felt like a shot to his heart)_

And if for the rest of the night Gotham saw her favorite vigilante looking back over his shoulder and freezing for a second, or speaking in rough voice when no one was around him - she understood why.

_(love is watching someone die, Bruce realized; and God, he loves them so much it hurts)_

**Author's Note:**

> oops, it's been so long since i've last posted something.  
> hopefully, you guys will like it :D let me know what you think!


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